I used to be an active girl. But two years ago, an English speaking competition held in my school changed me a lot.

      I stood on the stage(讲台) for the first time. I was so nervous that my brain(大脑) suddenly became empty. Not long after I began my speech, the hall turned noisy. It seemed that they were laughing at me. I knew I failed.

      From then on, I became quiet and always stayed alone. I didn't want to express my ideas in public, even in class. Every time I wanted to say something, I thought people would laugh at me. My friends couldn't understand me, and they left me, one by one.

One day, my science teacher asked us why trees in forests were much taller than those in the wild. "Ha, what a silly question!" I thought.

"There's not enough space in the woods for trees to expand their branches. Of course they have to grow taller than others. The trees in the wild needn't do that since there's enough space. " I said in a low voice.

To my surprise, the teacher said, "Yes, you're right. It is a competition. " My face turned red right now. I hadn't spoken for a long time, especially in public.

Then the teacher explained how tree s in forests had to grow taller to receive more sunlight. If not, they would die. This also happened in our society.

      What's more, the tree that doesn't live in a crowd is just like a person who has no friends in life.

      I raised my head slowly and found the teacher was looking at me. His eyes were as warm as sunshine. I realized that I must stand up and face the truth.

    I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch(牧马场). The last time I was there he told me his story. When he was young, his family was too poor to have a house to live in.As a result , when he was in high school, all the students were asked to write a paper about what they wanted to be and do when they grew up. That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of owning a horse ranch. He also drew a picture to show a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a beautiful farm. The next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F. Roberts asked, “Why did I receive an F?” He teacher said, “This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money.” Then the teacher added, “If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.”

    The boy went home and thought about it for a long and hard time. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, “ Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.”Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He told his teacher “you could keep the F and I still keep my dream”.

    He tells me this story because I am sitting in his 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of the 200-acre horse ranch. “I still have that school paper now.” He added, “The best part of the story is that two years ago that  teacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was leaving, he said, Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer.During those years I stole a lot of kids' dreams. Luckily, you had enough gumption not to give up on yours. .”

The English teacher came into the classroom with test papers in his hands. He said with a smile, "I know there are too many tests for you these days, but the test today is very1 .It is different from your other tests." The teacher started to hand out the test papers to each student.

There was only a small black " X " in the middle of the paper. The students were very 2 to see that.The teacher noticed the students' surprise.Then he said, "I want you to 3 what you see there. You must finish it by yoursclves."

All the students 4 about it hard and then wrote down their answers quietly. The next day,   the teacher said, "You only paid attention to the black ' X  ' , but nobody wrote about the white paper."

The whole class listened 5 , because they worried that they might fail the exam.

Then the tcacher said, "Don't worry. I just want you to think about your 6 .The white paper is like your whole life and the black ' X  ' is just like the problems in your daily life."7 , the students understood what the test was about.

Life is a wonderful 8  , full of love and care. If you only care about the problems, you'll never 9 that they are much smaller than everything else life gives you. So it' s better to look on the bright side, 10 each moment, and find happiness in life.

Once upon a time, two friends Tom and Mike went for a walk in the forest. On their way home, they got{#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

It was getting {#blank#}2{#/blank#} and they were very hungry. At this time, they{#blank#}3{#/blank#} a small house. They ran to the house and {#blank#}4{#/blank#} on the door, but no one answered. Tom decided to push it open, but Mike stopped {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. He said, "It's not {#blank#}6{#/blank#} to do that. Maybe the house owner will return soon."

At first, Tom listened to Mike, but {#blank#}7{#/blank#} an hour, he didn't want to wait any more. He entered the house. Mike ran into the house fast and saw{#blank#}8{#/blank#} old man. The man said, "I know you're hungry, but I have only a {#blank#}9{#/blank#} of noodles." Mike said, "Please let my friend have it." When Tom finished the noodles, the man gave a gold basket to Mike. He said "I give it to you {#blank#}10{#/blank#}you are polite and kind."

Then, the man disappeared(消失).